How the H-1B Petition System Has Changed & Could Change Again

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Mar 8, 2017

How the H-1B Petition System Has Changed & Could Change Again

Posted By
Dean Kantaras

An H-1B visa allows someone to enter the United States from a foreign country
in order to complete temporary and specialized employment. While this
concept seems pretty simple upfront, the H-1B visa program and system
has been under criticism for years and for numerous reasons. Recently
approved orders and bills currently being drafted may effectively turn
how the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) handles
H-1B visas upside-down.

Temporary Priority Suspension

The USCIS announced recently that premium processing for H-1B visa petitions
will be halted on April 3rd, 2017 for six months at most. When a company wants to bring a foreign
worker into the country to fill a specialist position, it can pay $1,225
more than normal to have the petition gain “premium processing,”
which guarantees the USCIS will handle the petition within 15 business
days. On the other hand, petitions without premium processing are known
to take around 4 or 5 months to complete on average.

Critics of the H-1B visa program say that companies with larger profits
and finances abuse the expedited system to take all H-1B visas before
smaller businesses can get to them. There is an 85,000 annual H-1B visa
cap with 20,000 of that amount reserved solely for individuals who hold
an advanced or master’s degree. The temporary halt on premium processing
is meant to act as a test period to see how the system runs without that
option; it could feasibly become permanent if approval of the H-1B visa
program goes up during the halt.

New Bills Could Make Further Changes

The temporary halt on premium H-1B visa petitions is just a start for some
Congress members. There is legislation currently in the works that proposes
a completely new way the system hands out H-1B visas. As it is now, the
majority of H-1B visas are given out through a lottery ticket system,
leaving a company’s future up to chance.

One bill wants to largely remove the lottery system and instead give visa
ticket priority to companies willing to pay professionals higher wages.
A fear among critics of H-1B visas is that companies get away with paying
lower salaries to foreign workers. Another bit of legislation wants to
add extra power to federal agencies to investigate the hiring processes
of companies with H-1B visas. The goal in particular would be ensuring
an “honest effort” was made to hire an American before hiring
a foreign worker for a position. It is not clear at this time what final
bills will be brought before the Trump Administration.

For more information about H-1B visa premium processing halt, click hereto visit the USCIS website. For assistance handling an immigration case
or figuring out how to file for an H-1B visa, contactK. Dean Kantaras, P.A. and our Clearwater immigration attorneys today.